


if you can hold the stars in place, you can hold my heart the same

by extrastellar



Series: KnB V-Day Challenge 2020 [3]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Akashi Masaomi's A+ Parenting, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Future Fic, M/M, Sad Boy Akashi hours, Stargazing, knbvdaychallenge2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22777783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extrastellar/pseuds/extrastellar
Summary: Mayuzumi is running on caffeine and adrenaline for finals, Akashi's dad is being a right dick to both him and Akashi again, all things you want on a weekend. Akashi is having none of it and decides that they deserve a dreak.
Relationships: Akashi Seijuurou/Mayuzumi Chihiro
Series: KnB V-Day Challenge 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637410
Comments: 4
Kudos: 55
Collections: KnBVdayChallenge 2020





	if you can hold the stars in place, you can hold my heart the same

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "Stars"

Mayuzumi was convinced he could see noises.

No, he hadn’t developed supernatural powers and as far as he was concerned, he hadn’t been bitten by a radioactive arachnoid, either. The lovely state he was currently in was best described as: finals.

He had bought the zombie coffee these American managers used and added it to a triple espresso this morning and he was buzzing right now. Literally or metaphorically? Shit, don’t ask Mayuzumi, he didn’t know. All he knew was that he could swear that the Red Bull can had asked him if he was alright just now.

“Huh”, he managed to get out.

“Mayuzumi-san”, the Red Bull can said and its voice sounded eerily like Akashi’s. “Are you alright?”

“Is this a parallel universe or did the Red Bull can just talk”, Mayuzumi said and the Red Bull can was taken away, drawing his focus to the boy opposite the table. The fields of his vision were flickering and colourful like in a bad disco, but that was definitely Akashi Seijuurou. “Akashi. What are you doing here?”

Akashi cracked a smile at him. “This is my father’s estate, Mayuzumi-san.”

Mayuzumi blinked, twice, hard. “Right.”

Akashi Masaomi had asked them to come for dinner this weekend, even though Mayuzumi was neck-deep in deadlines and Akashi was also in the middle of exams in his final year at Rakuzan. Mayuzumi had never liked Akashi’s dad (what kind of father was so shit at parenting that his son developed a dissociative identity disorder? Like, what the fuck), but Akashi claimed his father was making an effort of rebuilding his relationship to his son after Akashi had received the DID diagnosis and the therapist had chalked it up to Shiori’s death and Akashi Masaomi’s subsequent A+ parenting. Guess even a stone-hearted mogul like Masaomi could be guilt tripped.

Therefore, they were here, hunched over in one of the smaller dining rooms of the Akashi estate, Mayuzumi over his laptop and textbooks and notes that had once had a semblance of order to them, whereas Akashi was dutifully typing away on his MacBook and taking the occasional impeccable note in his notebook. Mayuzumi’s eye started twitching just looking at it.

“I’m getting you some water”, Akashi said and rose from his seat.

“No”, Mayuzumi said firmly but it came out as more of a wine. “That makes me need to pee and I really can’t afford a bathroom break right now.”

Akashi frowned at him. “Mayuzumi-san, do you even hear yourself?”

“Not sure. I did think that Red Bull can was talking. Did it?”

Akashi sighed and moved around the table, changing the display setting on Mayuzumi’s laptop to night mode. The softer, yellow tone of the screen immediately made his eyes tear up, but in a way that showed Mayuzumi how strained they had been. “I’m getting you a bottle of water. No more caffeine for you today, Mayuzumi-san. Captain’s order.”

“I graduated two years ago”, Mayuzumi muttered and rested his cheek on his notes. His head was throbbing and the mere thought of having to join Akashi Sr. for dinner in less than an hour was anything but helping his headache.

“At least you seem to remember that”, Akashi said. “I will be right back.”

Mayuzumi heard Akashi leave the room and closed his eyes, sighing in relief. Ah, god. His poor eyeballs were dry and had been burning for the better part of the day so far, this felt really nice.

He had a communication theory exam Monday at 10am and an essay on the moral responsibilities of corporation-owned newspapers due on Tuesday night and he hadn’t even gotten started on that because he had crammed for an economics exam until yesterday noon. Maybe he could get a quick powernap in before getting back to cramming these stupid ass communication theories into his aching head.

Mayuzumi let out a soft breath and didn’t even notice when he drifted off.

* * *

“Please let him sleep, Father.”

“This neither the time nor the place to fall asleep, Seijuurou.”

“I understand. However, Mayuzumi-san already took the time to come here with me at your behest, even though his schedule by all means did not allow it.”

Mayuzumi cracked an eye open and winced at the light assaulting his sensitive eyes. He must have made a sound, because Akashi and his father stopped talking.

“Mayuzumi-san.” Akashi placed a glass of water next to Mayuzumi’s head as he shook the sleep off and straightened in his chair, his back aching from the uncomfortable position he had fallen asleep in. “Please have some water.”

“Thanks”, Mayuzumi mumbled and chugged the water like a drowning man. The energy drinks and coffee had drained him, but at least the flickering vision and the headache were mostly gone after his nap. “How long was I out?”

“Over an hour”, Akashi Masaomi said coolly.

Mayuzumi grimaced internally and brought a hand up to rub his head when he noticed that his hair was sticking up everywhere. In silent horror, he attempted to flatten it. Stupid fucking bedhead, even plaguing him when he only took a nap on a table.

“Father has agreed to postpone our dinner in favour of lunch tomorrow before we head back”, Akashi said.

Mayuzumi didn’t mean to let out the breath he had been holding but shit, those were relieving news. “Okay.”

“I expect you both to be on time tomorrow”, Akashi Masaomi said icily and turned on his heel, leaving the room.

Mayuzumi glared after him. What a prick. “Guess I’m a complete fuck up in your dad’s eyes then.”

“I wouldn’t say that, no”, Akashi said, but the downturn of his mouth spoke a different language. “He is trying.”

“Not very successfully.”

“Please be considerate of him, Mayuzumi-san.”

“There’s nothing to be considerate of”, Mayuzumi said sharply and moved his finger over the laptop’s mousepad, waking the device from standby. “He’s a dick. Period.”

Akashi sighed. “Mayuzumi-san.”

Mayuzumi didn’t turn around. “I’m not apologising for saying that, Akashi. He’s a dick, to you first and foremost. I don’t mind him being an asshole to me, but you’re his son and he still treats you like a lowly incompetent intern at his stupid company.”

“My mother’s death–”

“–was twelve years ago”, Mayuzumi said and glanced at Akashi, whose expression was as unreadable as it usually was. Not in the blank-faced kind Mayuzumi and Kuroko pulled off, but in the calm and serene smile that he wore all the time. “No offense, but still being hung up on that is no longer an excuse.”

“I see”, Akashi said softly. “I apologise for his behaviour.”

“He should be apologising, not you”, Mayuzumi grumbled and turned back towards his laptop. His heart sunk at the dozens of tabs open in his browser. “Fuck.”

“Mayuzumi-san?”

“Hn?”

“Please come with me.”

Mayuzumi tore his eyes away from his screen and narrowed them at his boyfriend. “Why?”

Akashi smiled and held out a hand. “I think we both need a proper break.”

Mayuzumi internally raised both eyebrows at him. “Not sure if I can get it up with all the caffeine in my bloodstream right now.”

Akashi chuckled and Mayuzumi found himself giving a little smile at the familiar, welcome sound. “I wasn’t suggesting a quickie, Mayuzumi-san.”

“Pity”, Mayuzumi said, but shut his laptop and got out of the chair, his back cracking as he did. “Mentally, I’d be totally down.”

“Noted”, Akashi said with a smile and took Mayuzumi’s hand, pulling him out of the room, down the hallway, through the maze of the estate that Mayuzumi still hadn’t figured out entirely.

“You’re not taking me to your dad’s weird ass sex dungeon, right”, Mayuzumi asked dryly, because at this point, nothing Akashi Masaomi could do would surprise him anymore.

Akashi wrinkled his nose. “No, he does not have such a thing, Mayuzumi-san.” He paused and mischief flashed in his red eyes. “Or maybe he does?”

Mayuzumi was the one to grimace now. “Ew.”

Akashi laughed, a clear sound that would never cease to make Mayuzumi feel all bubbly and tingly inside although he would never ever admit that to his boyfriend. Akashi pulled him through one of the smaller entrances and gestured for him to pull off his socks.

“This is getting weird”, Mayuzumi said, but followed Akashi’s example before he was pulled outside. “Where are we going?”

Akashi gestured at the hill next to the estate. “Up there.”

Mayuzumi frowned. “Why? This is how alien abductions are said to start. Should I turn back?”

Akashi gave him an amused smile. “Please don’t.”

And fuck him, but Mayuzumi had never been able to deny Akashi when he was like this. Man, he was so whipped, it was actually pathetic.

The grass was cool beneath his bare feet and slightly moist from the rain this morning. Akashi tugged him up the luckily not very steep hill and sat down.

“Night picnic without the picnic?”, Mayuzumi asked dryly and settled beside Akashi.

“This was my mother’s favourite place”, Akashi said with that sad smile he usually wore when talking about Akashi Shiori. “When I was still very little, the three of us would come up here in summer.”

Mayuzumi could not imagine Akashi Masaomi trekking up here with his wife and son just for the fun of it, but then, apparently Akashi’s father had been a very different man before his wife had fallen ill.

“It’s nice?”, Mayuzumi said, unsure of what to say. They had a nice view over the estate from up here, even if it was long dark and they could only see the faint glow of the nearest city at the horizon.

Akashi chuckled again and laid flat on his back. “Look up, Chihiro.”

Mayuzumi arched an eyebrow at him but laid back and directed his gaze to the sky. He couldn’t help the slight slackening of his jaw. Far away from the light pollution of the cities, there was nothing hiding the stars from them now. Mayuzumi wasn’t sure when he had last seen this many stars this clearly in real life, outside of a planetarium.

“Impressive, right?”, Akashi said softly from next to him and Mayuzumi turned his head to look at him. His boyfriend was completely focused on the cosmos’ display far above them, the cool moonlight making him look almost ethereal. Mayuzumi felt his heart thump painfully in his chest. “We used to come up here when the news predicted shooting stars and watch them until I fell asleep.”

“Your parents and you?”, Mayuzumi asked softly.

Akashi swallowed thickly. “Mother and I. Father never stayed around.”

Mayuzumi felt irritation at the old man well up inside of him again, but instead of storming down to the estate and Ignite pass a basketball into his face, he reached out his right hand and linked his fingers with Akashi’s left. “Sorry.”

“It’s nothing”, Akashi said, but his voice was thicker than usual and Mayuzumi could see unshed tears sparkle in the starlight. “I wish you would have gotten to meet her.”

“I’m sure she was wonderful”, Mayuzumi murmured and squeezed Akashi’s hand while a single tear escaped from his eye and rolled down his temple, disappearing in bright red hair muted by the night’s dark colours.

“She would have liked you”, Akashi said, voice so soft Mayuzumi had to strain to hear it. “You would have liked her, too. I’m sure of it.”

“Because you’re the absolute?”, Mayuzumi said, a smile on his lips and Akashi’s quirked up into one as well.

“I know my father is trying nowadays”, Akashi said and squeezed Mayuzumi’s hand. “But on days like today I miss Mother more than anything in the world.”

Akashi let out a shuddering breath. “Thank you for being here with me, Chihiro.”

“Sure”, Mayuzumi said softly and his thumb was rubbing soothing circles into the soft back of Akashi’s hand. “Hey, Seijuurou?”

Akashi turned his head away from the stars for the first time. “Yes?”

“Wanna stay up here until you fall asleep?”

The smile on Akashi’s face made Mayuzumi’s heart squeeze tightly, the words “I love you” at the tip of his tongue.

“I would like that very much”, Akashi said and Mayuzumi gave him a rare smile. Akashi shifted closer until they were hip to hip, their intertwined hands resting on Mayuzumi’s stomach.

Akashi fell asleep just before the first shooting star cut through the night sky. Mayuzumi hoped that Shiori, wherever she was, was watching her son right now, and any other day.


End file.
